Design Masterworks 
19 May 2016
Design Masterworks 
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Carlo Scarpa

Important Sommerso a Bollicine vase, model 3527

Venini
Italy, c. 1934
jade-green sommerso glass with gold inclusions 5¼ h × 8½ dia in (13 × 22 cm)
estimate: $30,000–50,000
result: $50,000
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Signed with two-line acid stamp to underside: [Venini Murano].
provenance: Fifty/50, New York | Collection of Jerome Shaw | Private Collection
literature: Carlo Scarpa: I Vetri di un Architetto, Barovier, pg. 205 illustrates model Carlo Scarpa: Venini 1932-1947, Barovier, ppg. 127, 132 illustrate model Murano '900, Deboni, no. 192, pg. 276 illustrates model Italian Glass: Murano-Milan 1930-1970, Ricke and Schmitt, no. 20, pg. 59 illustrates model Venini: Glass Catalogue 1921-2007, Deboni, no. 69 illustrates model

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Sommerso a Bollicine

Iconic Techniques

Designed for the Venice Biennale of 1934, Sommerso a Bollicine was a technique invented and developed by Carlo Scarpa for Venini. It involved the application of several layers of bollicine (bubbly) glass with gold leaf submerged in a thick outer layer of clear glass. The visually stunning effects created by this technique represent a new level of technical and artistic sophistication at Venini, and the series has become an icon of 1930s design. Often imitated by other Murano companies, Sommerso a Bollicine was the first of many bold experiments by Scarpa that would come to define his legacy at Venini.

The example presented here exhibits spiraling details of bollicine glass suspended between layers of gold leaf and thick clear glass. This particular effect was difficult to obtain and only a few examples are known to exist.

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